I have a love/fear relationship with art supplies. I love acquiring and making art with them, and I’m afraid that I won’t make art good enough to do justice to the art supply I’m reviewing. And there you have the reason why I put off this review for about two weeks.

Fun fact: the background is the inside of my favorite hat

The construction of the E+M Workman pocket clutch lead holder is eminently pleasing—this is a nice, solid object, full of wood and metal and class. The wood is smooth—no splinters—and the extra-thick barrel is just long enough to fit perfectly in my hand.

Not pictured: how perfectly this pencil fits in my hand

I’m no expert on these clutch mechanisms, but this one seems pretty sturdy. It’s got an eternal death grip on the lead, and I haven’t had any trouble with it projectile launching its contents to the floor, even though it’s the same basic clutch style as my Prismacolor Turquoise lead holder (that style being where the only place that the lead is held into the pencil is that metal clutch at the tip, as opposed to being held by some other mechanism in the barrel such that lead can be advanced one click at a time, like typical mechanical pencils).

I’m sure there are specific names involved, but I’m not in the know as far as lead holders go.

The clutch clasps back down on the lead almost instantaneously after the button is released, such that it’s pretty easy to catch the lead exactly where I want it, instead of drastically overshooting it like I do with the Prismacolor Turquoise.

Simple, clean, efficient, modern German design.

No clip, which is great for slipping into a pocket, and terrible on any minutely inclined surface. I’m torn on this point; I don’t want it to have a clip, as that would no doubt get in the way of my grip and general aesthetics, but I also don’t want my nice art supply making constant suicide attempts off of tables. There’s just no winning. At least it’s a bright, easy-to-spot-on-the-floor red.

Includes one HB (“Hot Business”) lead

Even when the tip is dull (I haven’t bought the lovely matchingsharpener yet), there are still sharp angles to be found on the vast surface of this lead. And being HB, it’s got a good value range for sketching—easy to make light marks, but still capable of getting decently dark.

While this isn’t one of those “absolutely need it to live, breathe, and make art” items, it’s an absolutely perfect treat—either for yourself, or some lucky someone who likes lead holders—that, at $15 (at time of writing), doesn’t necessitate shelling out serious dough/pleading with your ATM that no really, just one more major cash withdrawal, I promise this is the last day of this pen convention and then I’ll quit (not that…I did any of that…at the Raleigh Pen Show, cough, cough, no). Good price, well made, quite the handsome little piece.